Filing cabinet



y 5, 1947- 'r. J. SALSMAN ET AL 2,420,015

' FILING CABINET- Filed April 22, 1944 gyzzz #1 441/ through an angle of 90 Patented May 6, 1947 FILING CABINET Thomas J. Salsman, Chicagmand John Warren 7 Paxton, Bloomington, Ill.

Application April 22, 1944, Serial No. 532,280

In the construction of filing cabinets for modern ofiice use, it is imperative to conserve as extensively as possible the requirements for floor space. To that end resort recently has been made to side-filing cabinets wherein a plurality of containers, each formed of two right-angularly arranged lateral walls secured to two end walls, are swingably mounted in tiers in an open-front supporting casing so that the containers swing outwardly from a storage position into an access position wherein the containers are partly exposed through the open side of the casing beyond its front wall. With a view to making such floor-saving side-filing cabinets acceptably effective it has been found necessary to locate the pivots, about which containers are swingably mounted, some distance inwardly from the lower front corners of the containers so that when the containers are swung to open or access positions the center of gravity of each loaded container does not move too far forward in the casing. In fact, it is necessary to so arrange the connections, constituting the pivot about which a container revolves, that with several or all of the containers in a tier in their. open positions they will not over-balance the casing and cause it to tip forward on its base. Also, it is necessary to make these containers as shallow as possible so that with two of the containers in their open positions the one above obscures as little as possible the visibility of the exposed indexes of the container below. The main objects of this invention, therefore, are to provide an improved construction and arrangement of the containers and casing for filing cabinets of the aforesaid type so as to permit the use of shallow containers and thereby insure the greatest visual exposure of the contents of the under of two containers when swung to their open or access positions; to provide an improved shiftable casing section coacting with the container to complete a closure for the casing front when the container is in its storage position; to provide improved means for retracting said casing section to provide clearance for the container contents when the container is being shifted between its access and storage positions; and to provide improved coacting means on said casing and container for synchronizing the shifting of said casing section with the swinging of said container.

In the particular embodiment of this invention shown'in the accompanying drawing,

Figure l is a perspective view of a two-drawer side filing cabinet, the lower container being shown in its open or access position and the upper 3 Claims.

2, container being shown in its closed or storage position;

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the same taken on the line 22 of. Figure 1; r

Figure 3 is a fragmentary View illustrating the relative positions of the shiftable casing section and the container as the latter approaches or begins to recede from its closed or storage posi tion.

A filing cabinet embodying the essential fea-- tures of this invention comprises a casing 4, the front of which is more or less open, wherein are mounted several containers 5 on connections 6 providing pivots about which the containers are conveniently swung or tilted through an angle of between their closed or storage positions and their open or access positions. A follower 1 is arranged in each of the containers whereby the contents are held in proper vertical position regardless of the quantity of the material in the container. Sections or plates 8 .are swingably mounted on the casing above each of the containers 5 so as to be shifted into position to complete the closure of the front of the casing when the container is in its closed or storage position but retractable from the path of the container contents as the container is swungbetween its storage and access positions.

The casing 4 may be constructed of wood or metal or any of their appropriate substitutes. It comprises the usual sides 9, back H3, top H, and bottom [2. The open front of the casing is provided with top, bottom, and intermediate reinforcing cross-bars l3 which divide it into compartments for the reception of the containers 5.

The various parts of the casing are reinforced by means of braces it placed at strategic points in the structure.

Each container 5 is made up of a pair of rightangularly arranged lateral panels l5 and I6 and a pair of end members [1. Each container is mounted on the connections 6 within a compartment between a pair of cross-bars I3 so that when the container is in its closed or storage position the front-bottom panel [5 coactingwith the movable casing section 8 forms a complete closure for the casing opening. When a contain.

er 5 is swung through a 90 angle into its open or access position the front-bottom panel [5 eX- tends horizontally through said opening partially forward and rearward of the cross-bars I3. Along its rear edge the panel I5 is recessed at 18 to provide for the reception of extensions on alphabetical guides of the type disclosed in the" 3 copending application of Irving R. Cornish, Serial No. 514,789, filed December 18, 1943. The index tabs on these guides would be exposed diagonally opposite as indicated by dotted outline 19.

The connections 6 whereby the containers 5 are herein shown to be swingably mounted in the casing embody a cross link construction such as is disclosed in copending application of John Warren Paxton etal Serial No 484,392, filed April 24, 1943. The links 20 and 2| are set in recesses in the ends H of the container 5 and have their upper ends pivotally connected thereto.

The lower ends of the links are pivotally. connected to the inner face of the casing sides 9 "and rest on cradle blocks 22. cross link'arrange ment thus supports each container on' a pivotal relationship with respect to the. casin so that the center of gravity of a loadedcontainer during" the swinging operation will always be kept ream; wardly of the front face of the casing 4. Accordingly, even it all th' containers. in a ti r. ar seesaw thirbpefi'positionstheyivill iiot r" ba ance nd. t ov he a in t- "The 'followeil 1""asf hjeiteiiifs'hovvn is constructed in accordance with the disclosure inad'ei'nthe QQDQnd ng. application of John Warren Paxton i ialINo'." 518,566; filedjanuary '17, I944. it

"tainer so a'sgto r v A ftliecoritainei ifi'a"proper"vertica1position. lilach, of the sections or. plates 8. is pivoted.- or hingedat'23; directlyjiiiyvard"oi 'the'adj aEjenfreinfofcirig cross-tar is; and is caused toswing" be twee its verticalfandrietiactedfpositioris by means q piiing'fa'ctuated ar'rnfz'llfas determined by t nta'ct herewith 'o'ffa shoulder 257lo'cate'd Q -Qntainer 5,, Thear'mzdlis' ivotd inter;

' 'ts ends at 2 6:on'the'innerIfac of one ogfthe; easingfs d {and has a pin 21: at th upper en'd slidably engaginggs tt. 2t: formed. in a tnt 2 9 secured to"th'e, en urin section; a; spy g 30 nor'mal1y pulls'tlie' arnild rearwai'iilji so "to; swi g the section. s reaiwarclv "into a V Z ont'al position when v the shoulder 2 5 is disen-- gated rom the. lower en of. the arm 24, when. ti}: lower end"ofthe arin 2'4 fi's'ei hgedby the; silo r 25; the section a; is "shifted into Iitsi'ver; t tar s r on; "rile; relative lengths or the, two. se'ction'sbf the rockerfzirmj 2 1 ai'fsufch thatf'a' small movement of the lower or 'shortersection causes a pro 'ortionatel'y greater movement of the lei: er or'upper section. Qon'seouently,the swing i of th sec'tio'n. 8'is v' eryjrapid, as the. con;

J erfi recedesi frorrr'br approaches fitsclose'd no tionf T e; no matter how quickly e ect tainerjniay jbe swung jforwardly from itsclosed Ra l e Section .w .le' s i l rage f ffi llfih w t I t e cont f. thc diit' e ou er limit of travel of the 'contairier'contents, to which the swing of this auxiliary section {must be accommodated; would be anif il fori 'an ai 'zis irorri a"point.betwen'the pivots of thelovvrl ngs or'th l nks'gzn and-12'! j and the'iupperinneri ofthe tab l d lflf V "S ricli aii arrangement of the section 8 permits. the bottom-"front paper is. or th f'containerft to" be m ide considerably. shorter. than I is possible w1 he structure sli own. 'inl the aforesaid ,co pend ng'fappl ication oi-Baxton et al. Serial No. 4 4 39ZI The resulting advantage is that when. ttvb armors. of the containers are intheir open. 0 bett aeiaoii p an iey isi leth a e. bottc, iront p anel l5 hadtoibe enterrded to ira; 199 new Iaccess"positions the indexes for the lower sistent with the state of the art.

movably mounted inpthr ways. Accordingly, changes in the described construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determine by reference to the following claims, the same. bein construed as broadly as possible con- 1. A ling cabinet comprising, a casing having a vertical front provided with a rectangular opening therein, a container mounted in said a i adhering a eq en ular a enelwhi l g imal tq e e. gsition. of; sa d conta ner kte s. n. a. ert cal. pia a d. s e s. a. 0 9- silr ii n ni s and. which on a n r;- s ada te ta wing. outwa dl n. said; eni h h. an. a e 9 39? to an. asc ssro it onin hor z tal y. hrou h;

w c a d Pa xtends a d cros theb i e 1".. a en n o. as

ocate a. ub tan i po t on. f. d. c t inerim i e Qt aid. cas n conn ct ons; up o t aid ont in =as na .p mit t e win ng f. s i n ner. e we n. its cc s and. st ra e os o a a x i se ti n ed: o said as mo eme t betw en a po it o uv a ic lwa dxr istration with aidpane o complete the closure. of-said casing openingtwhen saidcontainer is in its closed position anda re-, tracted position to clea r the path of; Said:cQn-. tainer contents-during-the swinging of. sa1d,con-, tainer, shiftable meanson said: casing connected-Htosaid section, and; normally. actuated inde-. pendentla of saidF containerto shift said, auxilr. iary section. into itsretracted position, and othen means on, said container. positioned to engage said first-mentionedmeanswhen said containerisin.its.i llyaclosedposition. so as tohold said positions, an auxiliary. section. hinged on said: casingfor. movementbetween. a. position in ver.-.

ticallyealigned registration. with. saidpanels to complete. the. closure of. said. casing opening when said containeris in its storageposition and a retracted position to clearcthepathof said container. contents during the. Swinging of: aidcontainer, a rockenarm; pivoted. on said.- casing and connected to said section, yielding means normally actuating said varmto retract said ;sec-

ti on frorn; itsyeljtically aligned position with said; onta ner; anel: ana a...sho,u1de. -.on-. /IdiiOOIX-f.

tainer adapted to contact said arm to hold said section in its position aligned with said container panel when said container is in its storage position.

3. A filing cabinet comprising, a casing having a vertical front provided with a rectangular opening therein, a container mounted in said casing and having a rectangular face panel which in the normal storage position of said container extends in a vertical plane and serves as a closure for said opening and which container is adapted to swing outwardly in said opening through an angle of 90 to an access position in which said panel extends horizontally through, and across the bottom of, said opening, so as to locate a substantial portion of said container inside of said casing, connections supporting said container on said casing to permit the swinging of said container between its access and storage positions, an auxiliary section hinged at its upper edge on the casing front so as to swing between a position in vertically-aligned registration with said panel to complete the closure of said casing opening when said container is in its storage position and a retracted position to clear the path of said container contents during the swinging of said container, a rocker arm pivot- 20 Number REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Hutchings Oct. 3, 1933 Malone Dec. 3, 1907 Muckler Dec. 10, 1935 Knaggs Aug. 11, 1931 Barnes Jan. 26, 1932 Lee June 17, 1919 

